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Brit group turns up heat on anti-Semitism

By Sarah Morrison

August 15, 2008

The figures are disturbing.

In a post-World War II Europe, an entire continent witnessed firsthand the dangers of unrestrained anti-Semitism. However, according to a recent BBC report, anti-Semitic incidents in England have increased by nine percent for the first half of 2008, 266 incidents up from a reported 244 last year.

The figures, collected by England's Community Security Trust, noted that 166 of the 266 incidents were of an abusive nature. What looks even more disturbing is an 88-percent spike in incidents on college campuses throughout England. Did the nation that tirelessly fought Hitler forget one of the main reasons he was trying to take over all of Europe?

According to Dr. Winston Pickett, a Jewish journalist living in Brighton, England, the answer is no. Pickett, the director of the European Institute for the Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism (EISCA), is close to calling these numbers a good thing.

"One of the reasons that England gets the play that it does is because the material that comes out of the U.K. is in English," Pickett said. "It's easily accessible and we also have the Community Security Trust, which has been evaluating anti-Semitic incidents for a decade. It's easy to track these things." In addition, "the director of the CST wrote a memo to the press and said that one of the reasons the figures are up is because the reporting is better," Pickett observed. "Campuses are engaged in very effective things to battle anti-Semitism. They know how to protest democratically on campus, blocking some initiatives. They also score points on campus because they educate about anti-Semitism."

The founders of EISCA noticed that the strategies that campus groups were implementing were actually having a positive effect in combating anti-Semitism. Students, and people all around England, were beginning to feel comfortable reporting incidents, partially explaining the rise in the facts and figures.

EISCA formed in 2007 to begin researching what methods actually work in fighting anti-Semitism. One month ago, the organization officially launched in the House of Commons, one of many signs of the British Parliament's commitment to combating anti-Semitism.

"There is a group called the All Party Parliamentary Against Anti-Semitism, which is highly important because it was made up to 14 non-Jews; all of them were from across the political spectrum," Pickett said. "One of the key components that they highlighted is something that they call 'anti-Semitic discourse'."

The All Party Parliamentary Group defines "anti-Semitic discourse" as less obvious forms of anti-Semitism, defined after the manifestation, classification, and breakdown of offensive events. Anti-Semitic discourse is in print or media form as opposed to outright offenses like graffiti.

"The most visible, reportable way is through incidents," Pickett noted. "You look at whether a synagogue had something spray painted on it... [or] attacks on individuals. That's easy to report. What happens in the media and the way in which attitudes toward Israel are expressed in the public space are much harder to quantify. Therefore, when the parliamentary inquiry says 'discourse,' they highlighted it, talked about it, and said what constitutes it."

Pickett pointed out that this was a crucial step in forming EISCA because there was a necessity for an organization that recognized that even though anti-Semitic discourse is not made up of incidents, it is just as important to take note and do something about it.

"One of the things EISCA wants to do, first and foremost, is a piece of research on anti-Semitic discourse," Pickett said. "We're currently doing a report that addresses that."

Parliament, Pickett said, is working to strengthen the reporting and response to anti-Semitism around Europe.

"One of the things it's doing is going around the different European countries and telling them, 'look at this process called the All Party Inquiry and replicate it in your countries.' It's a good way to look at the problem in an objective way and create against it," Pickett said. "In ways, it's taking the lead as a form of raising the level of consciousness and political awareness in order to stimulate other European governments to do something."

Already, other countries are looking into having their own All Party Parliamentary Groups and are using England's breakthrough efforts to model their own.

"While some people will say that England is going to hell in a hand basket, well, the flipside is that this inquiry created a prototype for other countries to follow. In that way, we're leading the way," Pickett said.

EISCA wants to be able to create a network beyond its political ties in order to establish connections all over England to bring anti-Semitic discourse to light. Recently, EISCA has established a connection with British historian Anthony Julius and Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Powerful partners like these will help EISCA encourage civilians to report anti-Semitic incidents and research into successful ways to combat them.

"EISCA is in the solutions business," Pickett said. "We want to seek solutions to countering and even alleviating anti-Semitism. The reason we're so pleased that the government wants to look to us is that the government wanted to find solutions and reasons to counter it. At the end of the day, this is not your fathers' anti-Semitism. It's not all genocidal; there are ways that we can deal with it."

Pickett emphasized that every single person can do something to combat anti-Semitism.

"They can be done even in conversations, with people who are blatantly ignorant, and articulating a view that is not so nasty and not so much ideological but that is just echoing anti-Semitism," Pickett said. "In order to counter anti-Semitism, we have to be more sophisticated with how we counter it. Sometimes, there's political consequence, sometimes educational, sometimes activist. But a lot of it is education simply to people who don't know what's going on. We have to educate [on] the history of anti-Semitism."

"Here are people who you can actually have a conversation with," Pickett continued.  "Maybe it's one-on-one, but I'm optimistic, because I think you can change people's minds. You never know who that one person can be!"

Pickett's proof of "one man can make a difference" sits in Parliament. Jim Murphy, Minister for Europe, went on a British college trip similar to the "Birthright" trips 20 years ago and it changed his opinion on Jewry.

"He's a product of outreach!" Pickett exclaimed. "This a non-Jewish, Scottish guy, a young and up and coming star in the Labor movement, went to Israel on a UJS (Union of Jewish Students, a college group similar to Hillel in the US) sponsored trip, made Jewish friends, and you know what? He gets it! You say it's only one person. Who knows what that one person is going to be!"

As for the more negative U.K. political figures like former London mayor Ken Livingston, "He was voted out!" Pickett clarified. "He's an exception with a long history of involvement with communists and all this kind of stuff."

"Now there's a government who gets it." Pickett added. "You have to be able to say that that's a victory."

Pickett continued to emphasize that England residents cannot bury their heads in the sand and choose to flee over combating the fierce battle in front of them.

"The other side of it is that in many ways, the Jews have never had it this good in the U.K.," Pickett said. "There is a cultural renaissance going on. There are Jewish cultural activities bursting at the seams and more kids going to Jewish schools than ever before. One of the things that we face as a people with a long collective memory of things like anti-Semitism is that when we see something happen, it's a hyperlink to the entire history of anti-Semitism. We also have to be careful not to generalize and not to think everything is bad. Make people realize that you can score victories. If you don't take that attitude, you'll throw our hands up in the air and say, 'I'm going to move.' It's happening all over the world and we can't put our heads in the sand. Are we seeing things clearly, or are we seeing the nightmare that we just went through?"

The most important thing that EISCA is doing, however, is spreading an epiphany to Jews all over the world: every Jew is in this battle together. Pickett stressed on the need to share resources, discard what doesn't work and formulate things that do, while using a central thought processing plant like EISCA to help when the going gets tough.

"It's like the common cold," Pickett said. "You constantly need to keep abreast in this stuff. It'll pop its ugly head up in some new form. It's like 'Whack-a-Mole,' you need to knock it down when it pops up. We cannot knock it down completely, but it can be controlled."

For more information on EISCA and to read essays published by members of the organization, visit their Web site at www.eisca.eu.